k-12

This lab is designed to have students develop and implement their own experiment to test the antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles. Students will be required to document and communicate the entire process via their scientific notebook. Students will also consider the implications and applications of nanotechnology by evaluating scientific literature.

This lesson will be used as to assess student knowledge of size or SI prefixes and which equipment/tools you would need to view objects of particular sizes. The lesson can be used to see how much students know before teaching; to introduce them to the topic; or to assess what they have learned after teaching about size and SI prefixes. The concept of size and scale is important for students to learn so that they can understand how small the nanoscale is – objects between 1-100 nanometers.

This activity focuses on scale and the importance of using scale bars, for this is the most common feature when presenting nanoscale structures or nanoscale science. Understanding size and scale is fundamental to learning about nanotechnology as size defines the nanoscale . Size is often divided into scales – macro, micro, nano and atomic. Helping students understand these “worlds” is an important part of their science knowledge and will help them to understand the relatively small size of the nanoscale. It can be introduced into K–12 curriculum by discussing scientific measurement.

This activity gives students a sense of size and scale using their classroom and their neighborhood as a frame of reference. The activity focuses on measuring length, for this is the most common feature when presenting nanoscale structures or nanoscale science. Understanding size and scale is fundamental to learning about nanotechnology as size defines the nanoscale. It can be introduced into K–12 curriculum by discussing scientific measurement.

This activity focuses on measuring length, for this is the most common feature when presenting nanoscale structures or nanoscale science. Understanding size and scale is fundamental to learning about nanotechnology as size defines the nanoscale (1-100nm in one dimension). Size is often divided into scales – macro, micro, nano and atomic. Helping students understand these “worlds” is an important part of their science knowledge and will help them to understand the relatively small size of the nanoscale. It can be introduced into K–12 curriculum by discussing scientific measurement.

This lesson introduces scale by demonstrating scales as factors of ten. This facilitates the introduction and reinforcement of the metric scale and paves the way to the discussion of lengths that are smaller than what can be seen with the naked eye. The lesson also introduces the concept of using different tools to address different length scales. Understanding size and scale is fundamental to learning about nanotechnology as size defines the nanoscale. This activity connects well to the introduction of atoms and cell structures as well as advancements in technology.

This activity develops a K–12 student’s skills in measurement by using a pool noodle to measure objects. The activity encourages students to consider features that are useful when developing or using a measurement tool. This lesson introduces scale by demonstrating scales as factors of ten. This facilitates the introduction and reinforcement of the metric scale and paves the way to the discussion of lengths that are smaller than what can be seen with the naked eye. The lesson also introduces the concept of using different tools to address different length scales.

Pollution, both macroscopic and microscopic, is an important environmental issue for aquatic ecosystems. For this lab, students will model how nanoparticle pollution travels from land to water. This lab is part 1 of a 2-part series of labs designed to help students understand the effect that nanoscale pollutants have on aquatic ecosystems.

Many plastics are in our oceans due to pollution, including ocean dumping and land runoff. Sunlight and alkaline ocean water break these plastics down into small particles, many are nanoscale in size. These nanoparticles can easily enter our cells. Students examine if and how these particles cross membranes into cells.

This lab will allow students to use the pure silver nanoparticles they synthesize to create antibacterial socks. They will compare their socks with socks that have been treated with a commercial silver spray, socks that have been treated in a factory, and a control that was not been treated. After a 24-hour period in which the bacteria will be allowed to grow on the agar plates, each culture (which will contain a piece of sock) will be observed for a zone of inhibition. Socks are easy for students to relate to and show how nanoparticles can have simple relevant applications.